Hello, bananawolf-ga!
I have found a few relevant articles that shed some light on your
question! While there is a lot of speculation surrounding this issue,
I was only able to find a handful of references that actually include
recent research or surveys. I have limited the scope of my answer to
include those references only.
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From "Study finds intelligent women have more trouble marrying - Also
concludes men have opposite problem," by DAVID COHEN. Alligator
Online. Jan. 21, 2005. http://www.alligator.org/pt2/050121marriage.php
Excerpts:
"Highly successful women may have more trouble finding Mr. Right,
according to a recent study. "Powerful women are at a distinct
disadvantage in the marriage market," said researcher Stephanie Brown
of the University of Michigan. "Men may prefer to marry
less-accomplished women."
"Brown said this is because men believe women in important jobs are
more likely to cheat."
"Female infidelity is a severe reproductive threat to males only when
(emotional) investment is high," Brown said. "A preference for
subordinate partners may provide adaptive benefits to males in the
context of only long-term, investing relationships -- not one-night
stands."
The study was conducted on 328 undergraduate students.
..
"A British study found correlating results. "According to a study
conducted by four British universities, for every 16-point rise in a
man?s IQ, he is 35 percent more likely to marry, while for women the
opposite is true - every 16-point increase in IQ results in a
40-percent decrease in likelihood of getting married."
"There is a possibility that relationship rivalry can result in
violence and suppression, according to Michael Murphy, UF clinical
associate professor and staff psychologist."
"There is an interesting balance in relationships regarding power,?
Murphy said. ?Some men feel threatened by women in high-paying jobs or
advanced academic programs, especially men with more traditional
backgrounds."
Read further...
==
From "Men Prefer Sexy, Smart UnStepfords, Yes, Really," by Rivers and
Barnett. 08/04/04 http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1937
Exerpts:
"Research shows that today, the more education a woman has, the more
likely she is to be married and the less likely she is to be attracted
to a man on the basis of his earning power. In fact, mate selection is
now more of a two-way street and men, in turn, are freer from the
financial pressures that used to be the primary qualifier for any
bachelor seeking a wife."
"Mary Balfour, director of Drawing Down the Moon, an executive dating
agency based in London, says that college-educated and professional
men in their 20s and 30s now want women who match their intellect and
earning abilities. "It is only those in their 50s and 60s who tend to
take a deep breath when introduced to powerful women," she says."
"Today, more than 42 percent of married women in the United States
earn more than their husbands. According to Stepford theory, these
couples should be sexually frustrated (especially the men) and highly
divorce-prone. Not so."
"Unlike the threatened Stepford men, modern husbands are not turned
off by women who can succeed at work. Women's earning power does not
appear to get in the way of pleasure. Psychologist Janet Hyde
conducted a year-long (1996) longitudinal study of 500 couples. She
found that couples who said they had the most rewarding intimate lives
were those in which both partners worked and experienced high rewards
from their jobs."
"A 1999 nationally representative sample--meaning it mirrors the
population as a whole--of 4,405 couples found that divorce was more
likely when a woman has no earnings than when she brings home a
paycheck. In particular, the marriage of a woman with no earnings was
more than twice as likely to dissolve as that of a woman who had a
paycheck."
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From "New Research Shows Never-Married Single Men Want to Settle
Down." Press Release. July 12, 2005.
http://www.iac.com/index/news/press_release/press_release_detail.htm?id=7167
According to a recent survey if male members by Match.com:
"87% think it's sexy to date a woman who earns more than they do."
"We know that the ?Ben Jones? bachelors are looking to settle down,
but what they don?t want to do is settle," said Kristin Kelly, dating
expert for Match.com. "Our research found that these amazing single
guys contribute to charity, they aren?t threatened by a woman who
earns more than they do, and they value friendship and kindness as the
ultimate attributes in a potential romantic partner."
==
From "The New Trophy Wife," By Deborah Siegel. Psychology Today
Magazine. Publication Date: Jan/Feb 2004.
http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3210.html
Excerpts:
"New trends in the mating game - marrying someone like yourself - plus
an unstable economy breathe new life into the term "peer marriage." In
previous generations, successful doctors, lawyers and bankers sought
wives who looked good, were well-bred and made a mean Stroganoff to
boot. Now, more and more alpha males are looking for something else
from the A-list: accomplishment."
"According to a Match.com poll, 48 percent of men (and an equal
percentage of women) reported dating partners who drew the same income
as they did. Twenty percent of men reported dating women who earned
more."
"Men?s attraction to professionally achieving mates is one piece of a
much larger story. "We?re experiencing a historic change in the things
people want out of marriage, the reasons they enter into it and stay
in it," says historian Stephanie Coontz of Evergreen State College in
Olympia, Washington. Men in their 20s and 30s embarking on first
marriages are relieved to no longer be the sole breadwinner and
decision-maker, a burden many watched their fathers shoulder. "These
men are truly redefining masculinity," says Terrence Real, a
psychologist and author of How Can I Get Through to You? Closing the
Intimacy Gap Between Men and Women. And the pursuit of a high-achiever
is not solely the province of youth. Status-conscious tycoons want to
have second marriages - and affairs - with alpha women. "Older men
want the most impressive achiever in the office. In the eyes of a
man?s peers, the woman with the career and degrees counts for more
than Miss America," says Frank Pittman, psychiatrist to Atlanta?s
elite."
..
"When Scott South, a sociologist at the University at Albany, State
University of New York, examined the characteristics most desirable to
black and white men ages 19 to 35, he found that a woman?s ability to
hold a steady job mattered more than her age, previous marriages,
maternal status, religion or race. Men were more willing to marry
women with more, rather than less, education than they themselves had.
A wise move, since women eclipse men at the same rates at which they
attain bachelor?s and master?s degrees, and the number of women
pursuing higher education continues to steadily climb."
==
An interesting excerpt follows from the book, "The Door in the Dream:
Conversations with Eminent Women in Science (2000). Joseph Henry
Press."
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309065682/html/25.html
"THE DOOR IN THE DREAM: conversations with eminent women in science.
Whenever I discussed the idea for this book with women friends and
scientists, they responded with enthusiasm and encouragement. Men, on
the other hand, wanted to know why I was writing a book on women in
science, since, in their view, there are no longer any problems for
women who want to have science careers, and there are already "several
books on the subject." Inevitably they cited a token woman here or
there to prove their point. Several implied that as the result of
affirmative action women scientists now have an advantage over men.
Many men feel threatened by the ongoing change in women's roles, even
though women's entry into the work force should lessen the financial
burden our society places on them. Deviations from traditional norms
easily spark conflict. The reaction to the 1997 Boston nanny murder
case typifies the hostility toward professional working women still
found among a large segment of the population. In that case the young
child of two physician parents was fatally injured while in the care
of a nanny. The father worked full time while the mother worked three
days a week and often returned home for lunch. Nevertheless, the
mother, not the father, was widely blamed for the tragedy that befell
the child. Harassment of women is one way some men attempt to maintain
positions of authority. At the professional level and in academia,
hostility toward women and attempts to undermine their ability to do
their work often take subtler forms than the overt sexual harassment
found among blue-collar workers.5 My own experience of being stripped
of the dean's title when my responsibilities shifted from Yale's
graduate school to its undergraduate college arose out of the fear
that I would have threatened the entrenched males had I been offered a
title that until then had been reserved exclusively for men. It was a
typical manifestation of subconscious efforts to keep women in their
place. In many respects such relatively subtle forms of discrimination
are more difficult to combat than the former outright exclusion. In
March 1999 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most
prestigious science and engineering universities in this country,
issued a report, based on factual data, acknowledging that its female
professors suffer from pervasive if unintentional discrimination."
Additional Articles
--------------------
You might find the following articles of some interest:
"Attitudes Toward Women, Work and Family," by Nancy Zukewich Ghalam.
CANADIAN SOCIAL TRENDS. AUTUMN 1997
http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/pdf/social/women2.pdf
"Crossing the threshold: men's incomes, attitudes toward the provider
role, and marriage timing," by Heather L. Koball. Sex Roles: A Journal
of Research, Oct, 2004.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_51/ai_n8694422
"AN INVESTIGATION OF EXCEPTIONS TO PATTERNS OF MATE SELECTION IN
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AMONG RESOURCE DEPENDENT/INDEPENDENT FEMALES," by
Laura B. Needham. Arkansas State University, August 4, 1999
http://education.astate.edu/cee/dcline/Guide/Mate_selection.html
==
I hope you find these references helpful!
Sincerely,
umiat
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